Thank you very much, Gardyloo, for all your suggestions. I think we'll definitely drop Tahoe to free up time for the Calaveras Big Trees State Park and gold rush country. Lake Constance is a couple hours by car away from where we live, so Lake Tahoe might be relatively similar.
We'll also work in your suggestions along the coast. Hotels in Monterey, Carmel, and Santa Barbara seem very expensive, therefore our thinking was to spend the nights at some of the less attractive places in-between with more moderate prices, but not necessarily spend a lot of time there during the day.
I'm torn about Death Valley. I understand it will be extremely hot there at that time of year and that is a concern. On the other hand, we will be just coming off a flight with a nine hour time difference, so will likely wake up at 2 am anyway. I was hoping we could be in the Death Vally at sunrise and back out before it got too unbearable. Somehow, it feels like a must-see destination in that part of the world, even if it means spending a lot of time in the car on that day.
So, if we kept Death Valley, we could drive through Yosemite from the Tioga Pass side and exit it on the western side. This would allow us to see Yosemite Valley and position us well to see the Big Trees and gold rush country the next day.